Ubuntu Remix

 I was using Ubuntu on my Dynabook N40, but when I tried to connect it to an external monitor (nothing but TV :-), it froze. However, it's not easy to change the settings of the Xwindow system. If possible, I want to work around it in other ways, so I was investigating various ways and found out that there is something called Ubuntu Japanese Remix.

Ubuntu seems to have various remixes for different purposes, but this is positioned as a distribution specialising in Japanese among them. Of course, as I actually did, regular Ubuntu supports languages from all over the world, and it is possible to select a local language at installation. However, it should be possible to provide detailed support for each local language, so I tried installing this Japanese remix on my Dynabook N40.

　I've done uEFInd before, which is a standard procedure (:-), so naturally I set that up too, and when I started it up... it booted up fine and the screen was displayed on the TV !

There was just one problem: when I tried to use both the Dynabook N40 and the REGZA on two screens, the display became very unstable. So now I use it by outputting to REGZA only. Even so, it is still comfortable enough to use.

Toshiba REGZA

 I installed  Ubuntu on my dynabook N40 and rEFInd finally allows me to boot and use it without USB. It runs more crisply than Windows and starts up faster and more comfortably. However, the screen of the dynabook N40 is small, so I decided to connect it to an external monitor. A dedicated PC monitor might of course be better, but I'm going to connect it to  a regular TV with HDMI. This is sufficient for me, as I don't play fighting games or use high-precision CAD, where the slightest delay can be a problem, and it also has the big advantage that I can watch TV when I'm not busy (:-). Incidentally, I use a 23-inch Toshiba REGZA as a monitor, which is a great thing that can do scheduled recording by simply attaching an external hard disk (or SSD, of course) to the back (as all TVs nowadays may do (:-).

When I connected the REGZA via HDMI with Ubuntu running on the Dynabook N40, it responded immediately. I remember having a lot of trouble getting Linux to recognise HDMI devices in the past, but I have a sense of awakening (:-). This time, however, I was expecting things to go smoothly, but the REGZA froze with part of the screen displayed on it (:-o). When I disconnected the HDMI cable, the dynabook N40 started working again, so it seems that it is not completely frozen. The same thing happened when I started the dynabook N40 with the HDMI cable connected.

When I started the Ubuntu live installation USB,   it was normally displayed on the REGZA. Was the installation process wrong?　Or is there something missing in the procedure for converting to local language (Japanese) after installation?　I will investigate further.

【中古】 東芝 液晶テレビ REGZA 23V型 (2013年製) 23S7 エッジLEDバックライト 外付けHDD録画対応◇145f19 価格：12500円（税込、送料無料) (2022/6/15時点) 楽天で購入

rEFInd

I installed Ubuntu Linux on my dyanbook N40, but when I tried to boot it, it displayed "System Reset" and kept rebooting. I had no choice but to try various other distributions. At last, I noticed that the boot options of the Slackware installation USB allowed me to select a boot file other than USB. It can select not only other Linux distribution but also maybe Windows, I guess.

I see... I didn't know there was a way to do that (:-). So, I have established the operation of booting Ubuntu on my Dynabook N40 from Slackware's installation USB by pressing F12 (:-) every time I start up my computer.
I had been using Ubuntu with this operation for a while, but I decided to install rEFInd, thinking that there must be a smarter way nowadays. I found "Install to Storage" option on the rEFInd USB boot screen, so I tried it and ,after all,  Ubuntu booted from Dynabook N40 without F12. The combination of rEFind + Linux is the best for Linux installers who are suffering from UEFI problems. I wish they should make it a standard feature (:-).